Cool Blog Name to Comehttp://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome
Blogging pop culture and going behind the scenes at lfpress.comTue, 31 Mar 2015 01:56:04 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.3Sammy Hagar + David Lee Roth = the full Van Halen experiencehttp://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/news/sammy-hagar-david-lee-roth-the-full-van-halen-experience/
http://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/news/sammy-hagar-david-lee-roth-the-full-van-halen-experience/#commentsTue, 31 Mar 2015 01:49:24 +0000http://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/?p=164651If I have to pay good money to see Van Halen perform, I expect that both David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar will be up on that stage this summer.

I know what you’ve been led to believe – that the storied rock band can have only one lead singer at a time.

But there are millions of reasons for the group’s members to patch up their differences so they can give London, among other cities, a show to remember. Not to mention millions of dollars.

Van Halen will roll into the Forest City on Aug. 5, when they will play the Western Fair District. As you have no doubt heard by now, the show represents a testing-of-the-waters for the venerable venue as a summer concert destination.

But if Van Halen really want to make an impression, they should give fans the concert they have been demanding for years.

That would require them to restore the band to its former glory and offer ticket buyers the full Van Halen experience — let’s face it, without both Dave and Sammy at the mic, they can’t realistically play their whole back catalogue in live performances.

As of this writing, Van Halen consists of sometime lead singer Roth, guitar wizard Eddie Valen, his brother Alex on drums, and Eddie’s son Wolfgang on bass.

And the truth is that Dave gets along with Sammy. They have toured together before, independently of Van Halen, so the animosity between them can be overcome. The sticking point appears to be Eddie.

So some promoter should throw a pile of money at the guitarist’s feet and tell him to grow up.

If former sworn enemies like France and Germany can grow into friends in the name of common interests, so can a couple of rapidly aging rockers.

While they’re at it, they should also bring Michael Anthony, the original bass player, back into the fold as well. He left to become Hagar’s sideman in his various solo ventures.

God love Eddie for giving his son a job, but a rock band is really not the right place for nepotism.

Maybe two lead singers may sound like an outrageous proposition, but it was good enough for the Beatles, the Eagles and Blue Rodeo.

And considering that tickets top out at $100 a pop, this show is going to be a major investment for London’s rock fans.

So instead of trying to appease just the Roth camp or only Hagar supporters, the group should cast the widest possible net. Who knows, they might even be able to squeeze a new album out of the exercise. Wouldn’t that be something? New Van Halen music!

But that hasn’t stopped the storied company from announcing a new initiative to better represent the social and cultural groups that make up the American melting pot.

“(DC’s upcoming relaunch) heralds in a new era for the DC universe which will allow us to publish something for everyone, be more expansive and modern in our approach and tell stories that better reflect the society around us,” co-publisher Dan DiDio said in a recent press release announcing the latest rebooting of DC continuity.

If you want examples of the types of varied characters who already populate DC’s comic line, there’s more than a few.

For starters, there’s the company’s marquee character, Superman.

As smarter people than me have pointed out, his story is the age-old tale of what happens when an immigrant outsider – he’s an alien refugee from the planet Krypton – moves to the U.S.

But Superman looks like the average straight, middle-class white guy, you say. True enough.

If your definition of diversity is limited to colour, then you should consider another green-skinned DC denizen, Martian Manhunter. Not convinced? How about Doctor Manhattan, a glowing blue presence who lives all the moments of his life simultaneously?

Ah, but what about women? Not only is Wonder Woman an example of what was once called the fairer sex, but she’s also a member of an all-female race of warriors.

Heck, even the undersea world is represented in DC Comics, by Aquaman.

Do you see that kind of diversity anywhere in your own, real-life surroundings? I know I don’t.

And that’s only in a single universe. There are another 51 alternate universes in current DC continuity that also boast the same hyperdiverse selection of lifeforms.

If you’re wondering about the Marvel universe — it’s just as rich, with its purple aliens, blue mutants and orange heroes.

But what’s that? You say the DC universe may be filled with an unlimited number of racial, ethnic, social and cultural groups, but it’s also a product of a bunch of white males? That may be true. However, you can’t deny the situation is changing.

If a bunch of white guys could imagine such an awesome setting for stories, just think what it will look like in a few years, when more minorities and women gain access to the levers of power.

My bet: You ain’t seen nothing yet.

]]>http://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/news/dc-comics-dont-need-to-be-more-diverse/feed/0Enough with the special parking spotshttp://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/news/enoug-with-the-special-parking-spots/
http://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/news/enoug-with-the-special-parking-spots/#commentsTue, 17 Mar 2015 21:50:07 +0000http://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/?p=164531Wheelchair parking spaces have been a hot topic of conversation in recent weeks here in our Forest City.

If you listen to London’s riveting talk-radio stations, as I do, you will know that a vigilant citizen has photographed yet another police cruiser parked, apparently in violation of the law, in one of the spots reserved for those with mobility challenges.

I’m not here to condemn or condone what the officer in question appears to have done. The London police do a fine job of explaining their own actions. They can handle the heat themselves.

What I would like to say is: enough already.

What started out as a solid idea has clearly run amok.

You see, it’s not just wheelchair users who have prime spots set aside for them anymore, it’s every group under the sun.

Evidently, we all deserve special consideration now.

You’ve probably seen the spaces to which I refer. If you’re a motorist, it’s hard not to run into them. They’re set up literally everywhere you go.

When you drive to a mall like Masonville Place, you’ll see spots set aside for expectant mothers.

When you park at University Hospital, there are special areas in the parking garage for dialysis patients.

At the grocery store, it’s the designated family spots that are closest to the entrance.

These are all in addition to bicycle parking, motorcycle parking and even wide-load parking. No, wait, maybe I’m making that last one up, I don’t really know. I have a hard time keeping track of all this car park proliferation.

I believe we can all agree that reserving a small handful of handicapped spots for those drivers and passengers who use wheelchairs was a very good concept in the beginning.

I like to think that no one would begrudge such individuals their accessible parking permits, as they are officially known in Ontario.

But as usual, the idea has been driven into the ground to the point of uselessness.

Someone (probably a bureaucrat or middle manager) saw those spots and felt they had to create more and more categories.

Why? Because we live in a society where everyone is special. As my friend Steve likes to point out, nowadays parents raise their children to think they are all precious snowflakes deserving of extraordinary treatment.

The logical consequence: Pretty soon, every single member of this community will have their own individual special permit.

And of course, the more the specialty spots, the more they are open to abuses.

At least one female acquaintance has told me in confidence that she parks in the pregnant-mother spots, even though she’s not in the family way. Who’s going to know the difference?

Perhaps you watched the Corner Gas episode which suggests wheelchair spots are kind of a scam. I doubt that’s true, however when Brent’s able-bodied mother, Emma, affects a vague limp to justify the permit her husband has cajoled out of the system, I couldn’t help but laugh.

Truth be known, I rarely try to park close to the entrance of my destination. My own personal policy is to find a space at the back of the lot and walk up, so I can get a couple minutes of exercise.

Try it. You might like it, too.

]]>http://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/news/enoug-with-the-special-parking-spots/feed/4New material from London author Lisa Brandthttp://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/news/new-material-from-london-author-lisa-brandt/
http://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/news/new-material-from-london-author-lisa-brandt/#commentsMon, 09 Mar 2015 22:23:08 +0000http://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/?p=164491London author and radio host Lisa Brandt has a new writing project online for you to check out.

If you’ve ever had any chronic medical issues, like I have, you will find her story illuminating and even a bit comforting.

She almost died a couple years ago, so that naturally gave rise to some reflection.

]]>http://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/news/new-material-from-london-author-lisa-brandt/feed/0Stick with the same Oscar hosthttp://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/news/stick-with-the-same-oscar-host/
http://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/news/stick-with-the-same-oscar-host/#commentsThu, 05 Mar 2015 03:13:28 +0000http://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/?p=164451Now is as good a time as any to start speculating wildly about the next Oscar host.

A date hasn’t even been announced yet for the 2016 ceremony, but that’s OK.

There’s no bad time to tell the folks at the Academy Awards how they could do better.

My thought: Pick a host and stick with him or her. Or even them.

I personally don’t care who that host is.

However, I think it’s in the long-term interests of the Academy to put their money on one horse and leave it there, so to speak.

What I mean is, give someone the hosting gig and then leave them in the job for a number of years. This will have all kinds of benefits.

Since 2010, eight people have hosted the show.

As you know, How I Met Your Mother star Neil Patrick Harris hosted last month.

Before Harris were Ellen Degeneres, Seth Macfarlane and Billy Crystal. Before them, the producers of the show tried dual hosts in the form of James Franco and Anne Hathaway and Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.

Enough already.

I think we can all agree that most of these talented people did a so-so job. But any of them could do even better work as host of the world’s most-watched telecast if they knew from year to year they would be hosting on an annual basis.

Keeping the same host allows for two important things.

First, it allows the host to grow in the job.

One of the main reasons that viewers have been tuning out, apart from the proliferation of red-carpet galas, is that the Oscar hosting has been so uneven.

Giving someone like Harris tenure would mean he could hone his hosting skills. It’s no coincidence that entertainer Bob Hope is considered by many to be the best Oscar host and he has also hosted the most times, 19. The same goes for Crystal, who is second on the list, with nine years at the podium.

Secondly, having a repeat host would allow that person to build a team around them.

The Oscars have become so predictable, so why not have a dedicated team of Academy Awards professionals who know they will have to stockpile material from one year to the next?

Oscar hosting is like any other activity – the more you do it, the better you get.

While having a new host each year inevitably generates headlines, it means they never quite get the hang of it. The audience can never fully warm to them.

Like I said, I don’t have strong feelings about who the host should be.

If you’re asking, I think it would be smart to pick someone who is a creature of television, such as Harris.

Degeneres would probably be at the top of my own short list. Throw Hugh Jackman on there, too. And Crystal for old time’s sake.

Heck, Daily Show host Jon Stewart will be looking for a way to pay the bills soon, and we know he can do the job.

]]>http://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/news/stick-with-the-same-oscar-host/feed/0Batman is not who you think he ishttp://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/news/batman-is-not-who-you-think-he-is/
http://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/news/batman-is-not-who-you-think-he-is/#commentsThu, 19 Feb 2015 23:02:52 +0000http://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/?p=164401No one would ever confuse Batman with Superman.

But if I hear one more internet comic expert contrast the two storied DC superheroes by saying the essential difference between them is that the last son of Krypton is a superpowerful alien while the Dark Knight is “just an ordinary guy,” I’m going to scream.

Let’s get this straight: Bruce Wayne is not an ordinary guy.

He’s a billionaire.

His superpower is money.

A superpower is the special trait that distinguishes each comic hero from the rest of the human population.

It’s true, Wayne is not from another planet. He was never bitten by a radioactive spider. Nor was he born with mutant abilities.

But he’s far from normal.

Most estimates put the current number of billionaires in the United States at less than 500 out of a population of 320 million. Assuming the DC universe isn’t too far afield from our own, that means Batman’s alter ego belongs to a very elite group of American citizens.

He is among the wealthiest of the wealthy. He is not the one per cent – he is a fraction of a fraction of the one per cent.

And let’s not underestimate the importance of money to Wayne’s identity and mission, ridding his world of crime. Everything flows from his financial status.

Having nearly unlimited resources mean’s Wayne’s concerns are not the same as the rest of us.

Unlike a character such as Peter Parker, who struggles each month just to make the rent, Wayne doesn’t have to worry about keeping a roof over his head. He knows where his next meal is coming from.

Being a billionaire frees Wayne so that he can devote his entire existence to waging war on Gotham’s criminal element. Ultimately, it buys him a precious commodity that other people don’t have: extra time.

It has also allowed him to amass an unrivalled store of weapons and gadgets.

Without his money, Wayne wouldn’t be able to afford all the instruments of his vengeance — his tank-like Tumbler, the Batwing, even Bat Shark Repellent. These are not the things to which a regular person has access.

As smarter people than me have pointed out, if Wayne really was like everyone else, maybe he wouldn’t be so messed up.

If he had to find a way to support himself, perhaps he wouldn’t have the time to be so obsessed with avenging the death of his parents.

When a tragedy befalls you or I, we don’t have empty day after empty day to fixate on our misfortune. We have to get on with our lives, for better or worse.

So please don’t tell me you are a fan of Batman because he’s just a guy who depends on his wits and in-born strength.

Without his fat wallet, Batman would likely not exist – at least not in the form we recognize today.

Do you feel like Tom Hanks in Joe Versus the Volcano, like you’re living in drab black and white, not glorious colour?

Then you, my friend, may have the winter blues.

This is the time of year when the residents of this country are locked in the dead of winter.

We’ve all made it through January — which is like one big, long Monday at the beginning of the year — but February refuses to end. The days are dragging. Winter has us by the throat.

I feel it, too.

That’s because I’m a summer person trapped in a winter nation.

I realize harsh winters are a direct consequence of living in the best country on the planet. I hate winter. Yet winter rules Canada for months at a time.

I do what I can to make the most of it.

Surprisingly, my wife and I have managed to keep up our routine of walking our two dogs outside three times a day. Somehow, we manage to put one foot in front of the other, despite the chilly weather. We trudge outdoors morning, noon and night.

As I have written before, winter feels to me like a weight pressing down on my shoulders. Winter feels . . . heavy.

In summer, it’s easy to walk out the door. You slip on some sandals and you’re gone.

On the other hand, at this time of year — in order to protect yourself from the oppressive cold — you are required to put on layers of clothing, long underwear, heavy boots, bulky coats. Life itself is cumbersome.

It probably doesn’t help that I’m not really into any cold-weather activities. Smarter people find a way to make use of the snow and the frigid landscape, so they can maintain their sanity.

But I don’t play hockey. I don’t skate. I don’t ski. Truly, I need to get a hobby.

As a kid, I loved to go tobogganing. I really should take that up again. That would be one way to stay sane.

Mostly, I like to hang out indoors. Perhaps my fondest memories from the last few years have been of my wife and me sitting together under blankets in front of the toasty woodstove in our kitchen, reading or just hanging out with our three cats and the dogs.

But too much time cooped up indoors leads to cabin fever. Maybe you’ve felt it, too. The walls close in on you.

Still, that’s better than being out in the open.

I can take the snow, the ice, the freezing rain. It’s the wind that gets to me, those chilly blasts that blow right through you — you feel as thin as a dirty sheet flapping in the wind.

At this point, all we can do is try to grin and bear it. All we can do is consider every day that brings us closer to the inevitable arrival of spring as a victory. If you don’t have the money to take a sunny vacation, give yourself permission to spoil yourself.

I know it’s no fun when your skin is perpetually dry. Your lips are cracked. Your back aches from shoveling. And you’re thoroughly sick of chiseling off that layer of thick ice from your windshield every morning.

I know you’re probably not thinking beyond this spring, when all the snow will finally melt away.

I know October seems like a lifetime from now.

Regardless, I have to tell you I’m already excited for Oct. 18, when the second annual Forest City Comicon will take over the London Convention Centre.

Can the organizers top themselves? Can they match – or even outdo — the success they had the first time around?

I say yes.

No question about it.

If anyone can capture lightning in a bottle twice, it’s the folks who founded the event, the biggest of its kind ever to be held in London.

The first edition of FCC last fall has already passed into local legend.

Organizers thought they might draw 1,200 ticket buyers. Instead, by the end of that Sunday, more than 2,300 people had shown up.

The con tapped into an invisible market. It turns out not everyone in Southwestern Ontario has the resources or even desire to go to Fan Expo in Toronto.

I had always liked London’s geeks, but by the end of the day I loved them.

What I remember most about FCC was the vibe. To put it simply, London’s geeks are not obnoxious or impatient people. I didn’t hear anyone complaining. I didn’t hear of a single ticket holder asking for their money back.

There were aspects of FCC that didn’t go according to plan, to be sure. For example, the crowd that gathered for the cosplay contest at the end of the day got pooled on Centennial Hall’s floor in front of the stage. But no one freaked out.

They offered their suggestions for improving the con and that’s part of why it’s moving to the convention centre in 2015.

Full disclosure: I had a hoot hosting a panel discussion on Southwestern Ontario comic creators. I’m not sure we answered the question “Why is this region so rich with comic talent?” but we sure tried.

FCC was one of the highlights of my year.

And along with events like the Ting! Comic and Graphic Arts Festival, it’s more proof that London has the infrastructure to support a thriving geek community.

Come to think of it, I didn’t speak to anyone who felt the event was the poorer for the absence of Ron Glass, the Firefly star and featured guest who in the end couldn’t make it to London.

No offence to him, but we all got along just fine with attendees like Mitch Markowitz of Hilarious House of Frightenstein fame and London/Stratford graphic novelist Emily Carroll.

]]>http://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/news/attention-geeks-of-london/feed/0It hurts to be George Lucashttp://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/news/it-hurts-to-be-george-lucas/
http://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/news/it-hurts-to-be-george-lucas/#commentsThu, 29 Jan 2015 22:57:10 +0000http://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/?p=164241If you’re anything like me, you’re probably very happy January is almost over.

January is never a good month. It’s like one big, long Monday at the beginning of the year.

But it could be worse: You could be media mogul George Lucas.

I nominate Lucas for the award for the Hollywood celebretainer who has had the worst first month of 2015.

First, he loses any say in the direction of the new Star Wars trilogy. Then his latest production is critically savaged and ignored at the box office.

It’s a good thing the American Graffiti director has billions of dollars.

I picture Lucas crying himself to sleep every night the last few weeks with his head resting on a pillow stuffed with $100 bills.

As you may have heard, Lucas revealed a couple weeks ago that the director of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, J.J. Abrams, has opted to take the space franchise in a new direction, away from the one envisioned by Lucas, who originated the wildly popular property.

Here’s what happened: When the Walt Disney company swallowed up Lucasfilm in 2012, part of what Disney execs paid for was future Star Wars storylines penned by Lucas, in the form of a treatment – a brief outline, that is – of the next three movies.

But guess what? J.J. Abrams, writer Lawrence Kasdan and the rest of the Force Awakens brain trust must have found that precis lacking.

“The [ideas] that I sold to Disney, they came up to the decision that they didn’t really want to do those. So they made up their own. So it’s not the ones that I originally wrote,” Lucas said in an interview with the pop-culture site Cinema Blend.

Since Lucas is slated to receive only a “creative consultant” credit on Episode VII, he has no choice in the matter.

Whatever you think of Abrams, the next Star Wars movie is his baby; all of the blame or glory will rest on his shoulders when it lands in theatres Dec. 18.

We may never know what Lucas had in mind, although decades ago — when he spoke of an eventual third trilogy to complete the saga – the director told interviewers it would depict hero Luke Skywalker ruling the galaxy and deal with philosophical themes like moral responsibility.

But you never know. Lucas is famous for dreaming up story elements and then discarding them, only to find new uses for them down the road.

Back in the early 1970s, for instance, he came up with the idea for a Jedi Knight named Mace Windu. Fast-forward to the prequel trilogy, and the character finally popped up, played by a half-sleeping Samuel L. Jackson.

I suppose it’s possible Lucas could take his name off The Force Awakens as a protest. We’ll see later this year how he deals with this slap in the face.

The other bad news Lucas got this month was that his latest motion picture, the animated fantasy Strange Magic, was critically panned and passed over by the public.

It recieved an unreal 17% fresh rating on the film-review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, which wouldn’t be so bad, except it has sold barely more than $5 million in tickets.

“Conceived before his deal with Disney and now bound to be the House of Mouse’s first big-screen disaster of 2015, Strange Magic looks decent but plays terribly,” Film Racket reviewer Bill Gibron said in his write-up, which is one of the kinder notices Strange Magic got.

If you didn’t even know Lucas had a movie out, that was likely Disney’s design. January is traditionally the time when studios burn off productions in which they have no confidence.

Lucas just can’t win.

The more movies he makes, the worse his reputation as a filmmaker becomes.

Lucas was always more interested in being an entertainment mogul, a creator of companies, than directing movies, although he has long threatened to start making experimental art films in the vein of 21-87, the National Film Board of Canada short that inspired him as film student in California.

I’m betting, however, it won’t be long before he starts founding more film companies, maybe even another studio.

No one can argue he’s not good at that.

]]>http://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/news/it-hurts-to-be-george-lucas/feed/1It’s time to un-fix Canada’s election dateshttp://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/news/its-time-to-un-fix-our-election-dates/
http://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/news/its-time-to-un-fix-our-election-dates/#commentsFri, 23 Jan 2015 02:29:03 +0000http://blogs.canoe.ca/coolblognametocome/?p=164201There’s been much speculation of late about when Canadians will next cast their federal ballots, with some pundits predicting that Prime Minster Stephen Harper may opt for a spring election.

This is supremely strange because, according to legislation passed by Harper’s own Conservatives, we’re supposed to know exactly when the next federal vote will take place – Oct. 19.

Canada has fixed election dates, doesn’t it? Sure.

Well, not really. Not like the United States does.

The truth of the matter is that the legislation – at both the federal and provincial level – has been ignored more than it’s been observed.

In theory, having fixed election dates was supposed to eliminate the political advantage the governing party in our parliamentary democracy has to dissolve the legislature when it chooses, sending politicians out on the campaign trail and voters to the polls.

That was the theory. In the real world, it hasn’t worked out that way. Prime ministers and premiers from coast to coast still pretty much call elections when they see fit.

So it’s time to do away with this charade.

What we know for sure is that politics in this country is pretty much the same as it was before this experiment in Americanization was launched.

If we had real fixed-date elections, there wouldn’t be any rumblings about Harper pulling the plug on the House of Commons early. If we had real fixed-date elections, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne wouldn’t have been able to call a snap election last year.

The truth is that the legislation is toothless. There’s no penalty for not following it.

In fact, there’s a very strong argument to be made that our traditional mechanism for setting election dates – letting the leader of the governing party choose the timing as he or she sees fit – allows for a much stiffer penalty: banishment to the political hinterland.

Readers with long memories will recall how, long before the fixing of election dates became fashionable, former Ontario premier David Peterson called a snap election in 1990, not even three years into the Liberal mandate.

The thinking was that Peterson knew the economy was about to go into the tank, and he wanted to renew his hold on the legislature before the coming recession hit. What happened next was that Ontario voters punished him for the cynical ploy by tossing the Liberals out in favour of Bob Rae’s New Democrats.

Peterson and the provincial Grits paid a very real price for inflicting an unwanted election on the province’s voters.

I think we can all agree that having fixed election dates was an interesting experiment, but it’s been a failure.

Speaking as someone who has an affection for the quirks of the Canadian parliamentary system, I don’t want an American style of government. What works for our neighbours to the south obviously isn’t working for us, as the last few years demonstrate.

When a law gets broken regularly by the same people who brought it in, it’s time for another solution.

Let’s do something truly conservative and turn back the clock, so we don’t have to pretend anymore that this legislation means something. It doesn’t.

All it has done is provide more proof to the public that politicians from all sides of the ideological spectrum are equally opportunistic.